Through the Fire

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee?” (Isa 43:2).

The king ordered his men to add more fuel to the fire. The furnace was already very hot, but he wanted it hotter. In fact, he wanted it seven times as hot. Nebuchadnezzar the king gave this order to his servants in anger. He had just been told that certain stubborn men from among the captives from Judea had no regard whatsoever for him. “These men,” a jealous Chaldean reported, “will not obey your decree, will not serve thy gods, neither will they worship the golden image which you’ve set up.” The king could not believe what he was hearing.

Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.

Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?” (Dan 3:13,14).

The three Hebrew men were urgently ushered before the king. He wanted to give them the last chance before he let all hell break loose upon them. So he asked them to confirm whether what he had been told was true or not.

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (Dan 3:16-18).

The king had heard enough. His visage completely changed. He was irate and fuming, and smoke, figuratively speaking, was coming out of his ears. He ordered his mighty men to make the fiery furnace seven times hotter than it presently was and to throw these stubborn Hebrews into it. So was the king’s decree, and so it was done.

Into the Fire

“And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

“Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace” (Dan 3:20,21).

Let’s not forget that when these three men were standing their ground before the king, they did not know for sure what was going to happen to them. They had counted the cost and were ready to face whatever came in the fiery furnace. God did not tell them beforehand how this was going to end. So imagine what was going on in their minds. But they said to the king, ”Our God is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace, but if He does not, we will still not worship your golden image.”

God has not promised us a bed of roses as we pass through this world. But one thing is sure: He has said He will never leave or forsake us, even when we are in the fire.

And so the Hebrew children were cast into the fiery furnace. The furnace was so intensely hot that the mighty men from the army who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into it were killed by the superficial contact with the flame. But God was with His children, even in the fiery furnace.

Trials will come, and even fiery ones may come our way, but one thing we are assured of is that the Lord our God will be with us. Nebuchadnezzar thought he had finished those troublesome Hebrew kids. He had thrown them into the furnace. “They must have been reduced to ashes by now,” he thought to himself a few minutes later. And so, sitting relaxed on his throne, he casually glanced at the furnace.

And what did he see? He saw the men walking unharmed in the fire. He was amazed! He got up and looked closer and saw, not just three, but four men. And “the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” (Dan 3:35).

Hard and perilous times may come, but take heart and be of good courage, for the “fourth man in the fire” will show up and help you through. He will be with you always. He has promised.

It may be that your experience in this life is one that can be described as “baptism by fire.” The Lord God is saying that you should not feel forsaken because He’s right there with you in the midst of the fiery furnace. He’s also teaching us that there is a glorious purpose for our trials, and there will be a glorious outcome. Our trials will create for us an eternal weight of glory.

The phrase baptism by fire is often used to refer to a soldier’s first experience in battle. Baptism, because the battle into which he is thrown or suddenly immersed is new to him, and fire, because of the explosions of grenades and firing of guns that surround him. Without a doubt, this is analogous to the life of a soldier of Christ.

Therefore, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you, [rather take it as a matter of course, an expected part of your training] and rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy; if ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you” (Pet 4:12-14).

“If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him” (2 Tim.2:12). And thus are we “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Rom 8:17).

It is true that your faith, and mine also, will be tested by fire. This testing or trial is not to destroy us, but on the contrary, to refine and strengthen us. The Scriptures point out that our faith, which is precious before God, will be refined by fire.

“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Not only will our faith be tested by fire, both collectively and individually, but so will our works. In fact, it is this testing of our works that will determine what reward you and I will receive when the Master returns. He therefore admonishes us to be careful what type of work we perform for Him while we’re here; for each of our works will be tested by fire, and only the ones that pass the test will bring us rewards.

“If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

Only that which survives the fire of God’s testing will be rewarding to us. Every work of the flesh, even if performed in His name, will be consumed by the Refiner’s fire. Only those works performed of the Spirit will survive and come out of the fire.

Out of the Fire

The fiery trial is not fun. But when we endure the testing, make it through, and come out of the fire, we are the better for it. We become better, just like refined gold coming out of the furnace. All the impurities are gone, and it is now pure gold, tried in the fire. Not only does this fire purify the saints, it also produces a more tempered people—a people who are more useful for God. They come forth out of the fire in the image of their Master and become a red-hot shining light to the world.

“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Rev 3:18, 19).

The Lord will have no incompetent ones in his kingdom. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried [not before] he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (James 1:12). Our trials are the means whereby we are fitted for the place God has for us in his kingdom. They give us the necessary training for our offices in that kingdom; without them we would not be fit for our places in the kingdom at all, and so they are the price we have to pay for government positions under the Lord Jesus Christ.

The knowledge of this fact, that every trial properly borne brings us nearer to the goal and the reward of the overcomer, enables the believer to bear the trials with patience and resignation and even to rejoice in them. For we know that “for the present they are not joyous but grievous, yet afterward they yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness” (Heb 12:11).

Now then, in regard to trials, if we could see and understand that they are needful for our training to fit us for a glorious future, we might not rejoice in the trial for its own sake, but we would rejoice for the sake of the benefit awaiting us. Men of the world act upon this principle.

An athlete submits to the most rigid training and practices great self-denial for months and years in order to gain the prize in some competition. “Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible” (1 Cor 9:19-27). If God could open our eyes to show us a glimpse of the glories in store for the overcomers, we would understand that the trials on the path to those glories are nothing compared to the reward soon to be revealed.

Paul says, “We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy spirit which is given unto us” (Rom 5:3-5, KJ). The whole point of this passage rests on the word “knowing.” We glory in tribulations, “knowing that tribulation worketh patience.” Do you know this? Do you know that our troubles and sorrows and distresses chasten us, refine us, set us apart, and make us “meet for the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col 1:12)? Do you and I know that this is the only way we can be made thus meet? Do we desire to sit with Christ on his throne? If so, we must suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together (Rom 8:17).

“It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself” (2 Tim 2:11-13).

Whatever calling or occupation a man chooses, he expects to pass through a certain process of study and training to fit him for that calling. That preparatory process is a necessary part of the calling. So it is with the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14). The process by which we are prepared for the high positions of kings and priests in the kingdom is, of course, a part of our calling. How inconsistent it would be to seek an abundant entrance into the kingdom and then draw back from the discipline that alone can fit us for that entrance into the kingdom!

Oh, what a wonderful privilege it is to be permitted to share with Christ in his suffering and then in His glory! “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake” (Phil 1: 29). And if we see this as our calling and the eternal weight of glory in store, we shall “rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ” (Acts 5: 41).

Therefore, “my brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations [trials], knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have its perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (Jas 1:2-4).